Evangelina Gaspero

Evangelina Rose Gaspero, Mezzo Soprano.

Music has been my main focus my whole life. At age three, my musical journey began on the violin, and at age five, cello and piano were added. Then when I turned ten, I took a singing class at a music school nearby. I was hooked. I began taking private voice lessons at eleven years of age and since that time, singing has been my instrument of choice.

When it came time for high school, I auditioned for, and was accepted into, the Chicago Academy for the Arts, an arts high school. My goal was to concentrate solely on vocal performance.

Every week I have a voice lesson focusing mainly on classical repertoire, but Musical Theater repertoire is also included. Chicago Academy for the Arts offers me acting, theater, and dance classes. Each year we have a Fall Musical, a Spring Musical, and a Shakespeare play. I am grateful I found a school where I spend most of my day learning my art and expressing myself creatively.

In addition to my training at the Chicago Academy for the Arts, I also study classical voice privately outside of school with Professor Pamela Hinchman, Associate Professor at the Bienen School of Music.

I have spent my summers at summer music festivals. During my Freshman and Sophomore summers, I participated both in Northwestern University’s “Opera Intensive” as well as “the Chicago Summer Opera program”. I performed in the opera ensembles of Rigoletto, The Crucible, and Le Nozze di Figaro. I was also chosen to sing in master classes.

Last summer, I was fortunate to be accepted into a summer program in Italy, where I was the only high school student. La musica lirica, an opera intensive in Novafeltria Italy, provided lessons in Italian, voice lessons from amazing teachers, and I was part of one of the main stage opera productions (Rigoletto) which toured around that area of Italy. I was also cast as Gherardino in Gianni Schicchi and in scenes such as Dame Quickly in the Falstaff Quartet.

In my senior year back at school, I was cast as Ruth in Pirates of Penzance at the Chicago Academy for the Arts. At present, I believe I am a mezzo and my intent is to pursue this in college.

Everything in my life so far has led me up to apply for a Bachelor of Music degree in Voice Performance. In this four-year degree program, I intend to improve my technique in breathing, increase my range, broaden my repertoire and learn more about the fundamentals in music in general. My vision for the future is to continue my studies in graduate school all of which will prepare me to fulfill my dreams of performing one day at places such as The LA Opera, The San Francisco Opera, The Lyric Opera of Chicago, The Metropolitan Opera, and La Scala.